Hi Stan, there are 6 of us and we're trying to coordinate a Friday in April. Will let you know as soon as I can get a date. Is it possible to do a class that combines Carbine and Pistol 101? More emphasis on the Carbine of course. There will be 3 noobies on the AR. The other 3 are Jeff and I and another shooter who just got back recently from Afghan. He was deployed as an attorney, so not exactly the same training as everyone else I'd imagine.

__________________“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” -Buddha

"Somewhere, Something Incredible is Waiting to be Known" -Carl Sagan

"We don’t rise to the level of our expectations – we fall to the level of our training” -Archilochus, Greek Soldier

Another member and I took Stan's rifle 101 this past weekend. Excellent course, good price, and best of all, excellent instructor.

My background: Have recently purchased my first firearm last month, so I don't know anything at all. Same with the other member. I came into Rifle 101 using a mini-14 ranch rifle.

Impressions as a beginner: This course is an absolute must, IMO, for every rifle owner. The fundamentals of shooting, safety, different positions, and learning how to zero your rifle are absolutely critical and I am thankful for having the chance to explore these concepts in this class (which is what I expected). The topics covered in the course were well worth the excellent value of $75. The well planned drills in the course content were excellent and gave me the confidence to do small maneuvers with a firearm.

Impressions on the instructor: Stan is one of the best instructors I've had (I've gone through 2 martial arts, tracking instructors, photography, and school). His outgoing and approachable demeanor made me comfortable asking questions at any time. Stan also remained very professional throughout the course, and I was comfortable giving him my trust during the drills. The learning style he had was "learn by doing" and it felt really natural- a little formal classroom talk with A LOT of exercises and drills. Although this course was geared towards AR15's, Stan was mindful of my mini 14. The best quality about Stan as an instructor was his patience and concern about the learning experience of his students. My partner and I had a lot of clarification questions that he gladly answered, and was accommodating to some of my equipment malfunctions.

Summary: Rifle 101 is an essential course that teaches the basics of rifle handling, safety, and marksmanship. What makes The Academy of Saint Crispian unique is Stan. He has all the right qualifications and experience, the best qualities of a teacher, and a "let's do it!" attitude. The course is more enjoyable when you could feel that the instructor is enjoys what he does. Also, the course pricing is a really good deal!!! I will definitely be seeing Stan again for future courses.

Curious how did the Mini-14 run in the course? Any major issues/problems?

What gear were you using to support it (mag pouches, sling, etc...)? Ammo used?

I ask because I am planning to take a carbine course in the future and the Mini-14 is the rifle I am planning to use. As you said most of these courses are developed around using an AR-15 or AK style rifle so I am looking how you felt it went using a Mini.

Atekhed, I will owe you a pm after work. I'd like to avoid hijacking this thread so I'll focus on the instructor.

For a basic rifle course the mini will perform fine. The lessons that stan taught are universal and you should have no major problems. I did have some issues that were strictly my fault but Stan was more than glad to work with me.

Lessons learned:

-bring your owned manual with you especially I you are not using an AR.
-learn how/what you need to do to zero your rifle and bring the tools you need. I did not know how and I wasted class time on figuring out how to adjust zeroing my rifle. Stan was more than glad to figure it out with me and we both know how to zero a mini now.
-my mini had a double feed due to operator ( my fault). I think I seated the bullets in a way the mini did not like (primer end of round not touching the rear interior side of mag) and caused a double feed. I also may not have seated the mag correctly. However, Stan taught us how to solve this type of mis feed early on the course and I got to use what I learned. He was very observant and saw I had trouble and ceased the exercise and coached me through the problem. I appreciated his patience and letting me exercise what I learned earlier in the course.
-Since my own operator induced double feeds continued, stan let me borrow his AR for the last few excercises, since he wanted us to get through all the excercises with the time we had left. This showed Stan's concern for his student's learning experience which is a key quality in an instructor.

Overall, Stan will work with you and your gear if you don't have an AR. I got the impression that he is really focused on his students learning experience. but for a basic rifle course you should be fine with the mini. If you live near Chino, CA I recommend Stan.

Best class taken so far (in terms of actual, oh crap I might use this one day) was the Surefire Night Class.

Class starts off with light techniques to be used with handgun. Then when it gets dark we practice with the lights and handgun at different ranges. You really begin to see what works for you and what doesn't.

I would say about 50% of the class is dedicated to the pistol. After pistol is rifle which teaches you a few techniques with light off hand and with weapon mounted. Finally we finished with shotgun.

Few tips -

My gear hates me. I go to a range, it works fine. I take Stan's class and things start to fly off, jam, vanish etc etc.

Your gear... Simple is better in this case. Originally I ran a vest to hold my mags, shells, light etc... When it gets dark and you are trying to change mags or clear a jam, trying to find a mag on your vest is stupidly hard. Unless you draw from your vest every day and are just so use to it, I would strongly suggest simple. Next time I take this class I will two mags on a belt holster.

Have a small table with your ammo can on it. Throw in a glow stick. Nothing more exhausting then trying to load ton's of ammo on the ground in the dark. Feeling around for ammo sucked. At night it gets cold and everything gets wet. I wish I brought a small table so I could stand and load and stay off the ground.

I used a bullet button tool on my finger. During 101 and 202 I was zipping my reloads like it was no ones business. At night, not so much. Trying to find that bullet button is really really really not fun when it's dark.

Finally, make sure you have a good hand held light. It should have a pressure switch sensitive enough that you can activate it with your palm while squeezing it between two fingers. The simpler the light is the better (see a theme coming here?). I had a Lumaforce light I got from the gun show that was top of the line a billion features. That bad boy could strobe, pulse, and had 3 different light settings...

Which sucks *** when you are trying to clear a jam in the dark, fumble for a reload, shoot one handed while at a 45 degree cant, all while remembering to move after you shoot, to scan with your weapon and eyes and screaming "GET OF OF MY HOUSE". I kept on turning on the wrong mode for the light which caused strobe when wanted always on. Really pissed me off, now I got to find a stupider flashlight with less gizmo's.

Honestly there was an overload of information but I definitely want to come back and see if I can process it better the next round. This is one of the better classes I took.

__________________
We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.

Just a quick add for atekhed, we've run a Mini-14 in several past TacCarb courses, and as jcjt suggests be familiar with your equipment. We run oem Ruger mags, dunno if jcjt was using something different?

We ran a AR with Stan in Rifle/Carb 101/202 earlier this year, however imo the Mini (featureless and all ) is a fine option. And for sure, as mentioned, Stan can work thru any issues and the different manual of arms the Mini requires.

My gear hates me. I go to a range, it works fine. I take Stan's class and things start to fly off, jam, vanish etc etc....

HAHAHHAHA... funny how we all learn this at Stan's classes... my gear still hates me. every outing with Stan is a test of the gear and setup and operator familiarity. this grasshopper still got a long way to go...

I think the KISS gods try to punish me for being to tactical. Then again every time one of my guns goes click or I look like an awkward monkey trying to rip out a new mag I can almost hear Stan clucking at me.

I'm honestly considering running a featureless gun for the night class so I can drop mags like a normal person.

__________________
We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.

I think the KISS gods try to punish me for being to tactical. Then again every time one of my guns goes click or I look like an awkward monkey trying to rip out a new mag I can almost hear Stan clucking at me.

I'm honestly considering running a featureless gun for the night class so I can drop mags like a normal person.

If you can get over the "looks" thing so many people seem to get hung up on, it's worth a try.

I, for one, can tell you featureless is awesome in our expereinces. Works great in the day time too.

HAHAHHAHA... funny how we all learn this at Stan's classes... my gear still hates me. every outing with Stan is a test of the gear and setup and operator familiarity. this grasshopper still got a long way to go...

+1. Never had my mini double feed until the course haha. But it was my own fault, not the gun's.

If you can get over the "looks" thing so many people seem to get hung up on, it's worth a try.

I, for one, can tell you featureless is awesome in our expereinces. Works great in the day time too.

you know, I'm taking the 303 and I was debating running my Saiga sporter or just my AR with bb. I realize during the day I have a fingertip BB and it works pretty well. I like the ability to pistol grip the gun I feel like I have more manuevarability.

However none of that matters if I can't freaking get a new magazine into my rifle. I'm planning on taking the surefire course again, and this time I'm going to use the Saiga Sporter with some 10/30 Saiga mags.

__________________
We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.

+1. Never had my mini double feed until the course haha. But it was my own fault, not the gun's.

Dude, all my gear brakes during Stan's class.

- Glock striker fail
- Remington 870 barrel go stupid (my fault for not trying this before class)
- Mossberg shell carrier fall off
- Weapon light fall apart while moving
- I had a magpul magazine not sit for some reason and lock in. I would chamber it and it would fall out over and over

you know, I'm taking the 303 and I was debating running my Saiga sporter or just my AR with bb. I realize during the day I have a fingertip BB and it works pretty well. I like the ability to pistol grip the gun I feel like I have more manuevarability.

However none of that matters if I can't freaking get a new magazine into my rifle. I'm planning on taking the surefire course again, and this time I'm going to use the Saiga Sporter with some 10/30 Saiga mags.

I've done all of Stan's carbine class with that bullet button tool attached to the magazines, that seem to work best for me. That finger tip tool works until you're under pressure and running around everywhere -- it falls off and you're screwed. You really don't know what works though until you get it out there and run with it.

I'm going to use my AK47 for the Carbine 202 course on April 16. That will be my first time with an AK, it probably won't be pretty.

__________________“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” -Buddha

"Somewhere, Something Incredible is Waiting to be Known" -Carl Sagan

"We don’t rise to the level of our expectations – we fall to the level of our training” -Archilochus, Greek Soldier

I've done all of Stan's carbine class with that bullet button tool attached to the magazines, that seem to work best for me. That finger tip tool works until you're under pressure and running around everywhere -- it falls off and you're screwed. You really don't know what works though until you get it out there and run with it.

I'm going to use my AK47 for the Carbine 202 course on April 16. That will be my first time with an AK, it probably won't be pretty.

Haha yah my buddy uses the tool attached to his mag also but so far I've been pretty fortunate with the tool.

We are actually taking 303 soon and he is running the ak. I think I'm going to actually run an AR pistol just to see how that's like. Might as well put everything to the paces.

You should be gtg with the ak though can't see why not minus fumbling with the mag release

__________________
We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.

Haha yah my buddy uses the tool attached to his mag also but so far I've been pretty fortunate with the tool.

We are actually taking 303 soon and he is running the ak. I think I'm going to actually run an AR pistol just to see how that's like. Might as well put everything to the paces.

You should be gtg with the ak though can't see why not minus fumbling with the mag release

Stan ran a pump shotgun at the 303 class I attended. Try that out and you'll see why the AR platform is the bomb. LOL.

Fumbling with the CA mag release is the problem. It's hard enough trying to seat the mag correctly on the AK then throw on top of it the need to get a tool to get the old mag out. Not as much fun or fast as it should be if there is someone shooting at you. But that's what we CA people have to deal with.

__________________“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” -Buddha

"Somewhere, Something Incredible is Waiting to be Known" -Carl Sagan

"We don’t rise to the level of our expectations – we fall to the level of our training” -Archilochus, Greek Soldier

Took the low light / night class. Let's start by saying, "it was a dark and stormy night..."

So it wasn't enough of a challenge shooting in the dark, Stan had to throw in some rain to make it even more interesting. Let's see, glasses covered in rain and mist, check. Aimpoint lens fogged up, with raindrops obscuring vision, check. Rain and mist making it even more difficult to see, check. Amazing experience that opens up your eyes, check.

As usual, learned a lot about equipment and what works, and being placed in an unfamiliar environment made it even more of a learning experience. Excellent experience, and anyone who buys a handgun with the idea you may one day need it for self defense needs to take this class (several times).

Took the low light / night class. Let's start by saying, "it was a dark and stormy night..."

So it wasn't enough of a challenge shooting in the dark, Stan had to throw in some rain to make it even more interesting. Let's see, glasses covered in rain and mist, check. Aimpoint lens fogged up, with raindrops obscuring vision, check. Rain and mist making it even more difficult to see, check. Amazing experience that opens up your eyes, check.

As usual, learned a lot about equipment and what works, and being placed in an unfamiliar environment made it even more of a learning experience. Excellent experience, and anyone who buys a handgun with the idea you may one day need it for self defense needs to take this class (several times).

You're so lucky. I've been hoping that it would rain on us one of these days when we're out there for a carbine course. So far all I've had is 30 mph wind for a pistol course with Stan.

__________________“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” -Buddha

"Somewhere, Something Incredible is Waiting to be Known" -Carl Sagan

"We don’t rise to the level of our expectations – we fall to the level of our training” -Archilochus, Greek Soldier

Just got back from the Ladies class, it was great! Learned a lot of stuff. I was hoping to see more ladies there, but worked out for us with more one-on-one instruction. Definitely looking forward to taking another class with Stan (and bringing the guys).